Halifax man receives 18-month sentence for child pornography

A Halifax man was sentenced on Jan. 28 to 18 months in prison and two years of probation for distributing and possessing child pornography, months after the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the mandatory minimum sentencing for child porn crimes.  

Leslie Hawboldt, 56, who has seven previous charges for uttering threats from 2004 to 2018, was sentenced in Halifax Provincial Court almost three and a half years after pleading guilty to child pornography charges in August 2022. 

Hawboldt, who was charged in August 2021, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography, which he accessed multiple days between May 13, 2021 and June 3, 2021. 

The Crown had asked for an 18-month sentence and three years of probation, while defence lawyer Terrence Connelly sought a conditional sentence to be served in the community. 

Forensic psychiatrist Michelle St. Amand-Johnson diagnosed Hawboldt with anti-social and borderline personality disorders and deviant sexual preferences in a pre-sentence assessment, finding he was sexually assaulted by a family member as a child and acted out violently and sexually with younger children growing up. 

Judge Christine Driscoll found that Hawboldt is a moderate risk to reoffend, based on St. Amand-Johnson’s conclusion that his risk is “not currently well managed.”

“His interest in and use of child sexual abuse and exploitation material seems to be long-standing and entrenched,” Driscoll said. “This leaves me unable to conclude that the public would not be endangered by allowing Mr. Hawboldt to serve a sentence in the community with appropriate conditions.”

Halifax Regional Police was unable to respond to questions about how the force handles these crimes ahead of the publication deadline. 

In an October 2025 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the one-year mandatory minimum sentence for possessing or accessing child pornography, finding it violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it could force “grossly disproportionate sentence on certain offenders.”

Justice Mary Moreau, writing for the majority, said the offences subject to the mandatory minimum “capture both the well‑organized offender who, over the years, has accumulated thousands of files showing prepubescent victims, and the young 18‑year‑old offender who, one day, keeps and views a file showing a 17‑year‑old victim that was sent to the offender without them having requested it.”

The court found that subjecting both of these cases to the same mandatory minimum fails to account for nuance in the 18-year-old’s case, which it says is not uncommon in the age of digital communication. It found the mandatory minimum violates section 12 of the charter, because it would subject the 18-year-old to cruel and unusual punishment.  

A November 2025 report by the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) found that in the last five years, Canadian courts ignored minimum sentences in almost a third of child pornography cases. The IJB analysis found that the average sentence for child sexual abuse material possession was 20 months.

Hawboldt’s sentence length is two months shy of the Canadian average. 
The federal Liberal government tabled legislation in December to restore the mandatory minimum. The bill, known as the Protecting Victims Act, would require judges to hand out jail or prison terms for offences with a mandatory minimum, but allows for greater sentencing discretion to avoid charter violations.